Mutual Fund News

Gold stocks shine as futures flirt with $1000

Gold futures has been on a see-saw ride in recent months - unsure whether to make the leap over the $1,000 (U.S.) an ounce hurdle, and stay a while.

The yellow metal appeared poised to make a third assault on the $1,000 mark earlier this month. Some of the enthusiasm was fuelled by rising expectations of inflation following aggressive prime-pumping measures by the U.S. and other governments to keep their economies from sinking deeper into recession.

The price of gold closed just above $1,000 for one day in March 2008. It retreated after touching that level again in February, and surged to the $985-range recently before another pull back.

Gold for August delivery yesterday climbed $4.70 to close at $932.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

TODAY'S SCREEN

We looked at companies in the iShares CDN Gold Sector exchange-traded fund (XGD-TSX). The ETF, which 22 tracks companies in the S&P/TSX global gold index, includes securities traded in Canada and the United States. The iShares CDN Gold Sector yesterday closed up 35 cents at $19.15 on the Toronto Stock Exchange - up from a 52-week low of $9.32 a unit last October.

Franco Nevada Corp., GammonGoldInc. and Osisko Mining Corp., were added to the gold index on March 20. Four more companies, including Allied Nevada Corp., Centamin Egypt Ltd., DRDGOLD Ltd. and Semafo Inc., will be added to the index this Friday.

WHAT DID WE FIND?

It looks like analysts are forecasting plenty of earnings growth from companies in this index. While analysts tend to value gold stocks by net asset value as opposed price to earnings ratios, many of the P/Es for these stocks are not inexpensive either.

***

Earnings estimates for members of the iShares CDN Gold Sector Index Fund

Company

Ticker

Country

US$ Price June 15

1-mo. % price chg

This fiscal year EPS est. $

This fiscal year EPS % gwth

This year P/E

Next fiscal year EPS est. $

Next fiscal year EPS % gwth

Next year P/E

Dividend Yield (%)

EPS 5-yr Hist gwth

Centamin Egypt

CEE-T

AU

1.27

24.6

0.01

-50.0

254.1

0.12

2300.0

10.6

NA

NA

Allied Nevada

ANV-T

US

8.38

42.6

0.13

NA

64.5

0.47

257.7

18.0

NA

NA

Agnico Eagle

AEM-T

CA

52.52

0.3

0.69

95.8

76.6

2.04

197.0

25.8

0.3

4.9

DRDGOLD

DROOY-Q

ZA

7.83

-9.7

0.59

44.9

13.2

1.27

114.3

6.2

1.3

NA

Franco-Nevada

FNV-T

CA

27.51

17.8

0.15

-63.4

183.4

0.26

73.3

105.8

1.0

NA

Gold Fields Ltd

GFI-N

ZA

11.27

-8.2

0.56

-9.3

20.0

0.92

63.6

12.3

2.2

18.5

Randgold Res.

GOLD-Q

GB

66.05

10.9

1.24

129.7

53.3

1.99

60.4

33.2

NA

17.0

Royal GoldInc.

RGLD-Q

US

41.81

4.6

0.52

-23.2

80.0

0.82

56.6

50.9

0.7

-3.0

Eldorado Gold

ELD-T

CA

8.40

1.8

0.26

-43.6

32.4

0.38

47.1

22.0

NA

578.2

Lihir Gold

LIHR-Q

AU

22.82

3.1

1.01

102.0

22.6

1.53

47.0

14.9

NA

48.2

Harmony Gold

HMY-N

ZA

10.44

-1.8

0.55

NA

19.1

0.77

40.4

13.6

NA

-43.5

New Gold

NGD-T

CA

2.48

12.4

0.09

NA

28.4

0.13

36.2

20.8

NA

NA

Semafo Inc

SMF-T

CA

1.78

-6.9

0.18

1.6

9.9

0.27

33.2

7.4

NA

9.9

Red Back Mining

RBI-T

CA

8.01

-9.3

0.51

68.4

15.8

0.75

31.6

12.0

NA

NA

GammonGold

GAM-T

CA

7.46

10.2

0.47

115.0

15.7

0.71

31.2

11.9

NA

NA

Goldcorp 'A'

G-T

CA

34.28

2.5

0.74

32.8

46.1

0.95

28.3

35.9

0.5

12.8

Kinross Gold

K-T

CA

17.45

2.8

0.68

68.8

25.9

0.83

22.5

21.1

0.4

26.2

Newmont Mining

NEM-N

US

41.58

-2.5

2.08

4.6

20.0

2.56

22.0

16.2

0.9

15.0

Aurizon Mines

ARZ-T

CA

4.03

-10.4

0.18

572.1

22.6

0.24

19.5

18.7

NA

14.6

Iamgold Corp

IMG-T

CA

9.38

-4.3

0.42

15.9

22.5

0.47

12.2

20.1

0.6

24.7

Anglogold Ashanti

AU-N

ZA

35.79

-2.2

2.30

NA

15.5

2.57

11.4

14.0

0.3

-3.4

Yamana GoldInc

YRI-T

CA

9.09

2.7

0.47

4.5

19.3

0.53

9.4

17.2

0.4

61.9

Alamos GoldInc

AGI-T

CA

8.29

13.2

0.40

34.9

20.5

0.44

7.9

19.0

NA

216.2

Barrick Gold

ABX-T

CA

32.90

-1.8

1.77

-3.6

18.5

1.86

4.7

17.7

1.1

78.7

Osisko Mining

OSK-T

CA

5.65

16.2

-0.01

-151.0

NA

-0.02

NA

NA

NA

NA

Seabridge Gold

SA-T

CA

25.46

3.8

-0.12

-148.0

NA

-0.16

NA

NA

NA

NA

Note: Includes 4 new stocks to be added to the index this Friday. All figures converted to US$